The Bow
This post includes non-explicit artistic nudity.
Medium: Photography
Date: September 26, 2011
Project/Body of Work: Souvenir Project
Photographed in September 2011 inside the Millville schoolhouse as part of the Souvenir Project, this image captures Jennifer standing in profile within an old classroom, back arched and arms lifted overhead, body forming a bow-like curve against dark wood paneling.
Fall light enters through tall windows on the left, casting a soft gradient across aged wood floors and worn plaster walls. The composition settles into three vertical zones: window and light, doorway at center, body suspended between light and shadow.
Process Notes:
This photograph was made during an extended period of shooting inside a partially an schoolhouse in Millville, West Virginia. The building, once used as an elementary school and later left largely unoccupied, provided large open rooms, wood floors, tall windows, and a pervasive stillness.
That day’s session began with movement. Several images explored lift and suspension, photographing Jennifer mid-jump within the cavernous space. As clothing and motion were gradually stripped away, what remained was the body alone in relation to the room.
The pose that became The Bow was not pre-planned. It emerged in a brief alignment of gesture, light, and architecture and was recognized immediately in-camera as complete.
While much of photography involves capturing motion, this image feels rooted in the opposite act: the containing of motion. A configuration of interior and exterior elements (light, shadow, structure, body) settles into stillness long enough to be witnessed. The photograph required no significant post-editing beyond tonal correction. Its balance was constructed through in-camera composition.
The presence of a centrally located door appears throughout my body of work, including in multiple Souvenir images. The same can be noted about the windows, their placement, and the quality of the light they direct into the room.
